Gautam Gambhir seems to be a shadow of his previous self..

[R.D forever]

the best player of spin in the indian team right now.. maybe he can come at no 4 or 5.. not face the new ball

[SLICKR392]

^ I don't see him doing well in the middle order. Once inform he is a very handy opener.

[Trundler27]

This might be the innings that he thinks will keep in the team for the next 5 yrs.... so he is putting everything into it. Our batting line-up is so embarrassing in test matches that I'd still take a solid innings from an out of form gambo. The mumbai pitches are ridiculously exciting... I can't believe the sudden change that happens from innings 1 to innings 2 everytime a test is played there.... Very interesting indeed!

[Trichromatic]

Now he can't even run with Sehwag. :headshake:

[Spiderguy252]

Big runs from Gambhir imminent? Bloke's got a whole battery of half-centuries or near-half century scores (starts) in the last few tests. If he wants to be remembered for bigger and greater things, the time for scripting them is now.

[Old guy]

that was quick

[Trichromatic]

60 runs and 2 dismissals

[Trundler27]

He is approaching 4000 test runs... time to start that thread :yay:

[Robelinda]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-england-2012/content/current/story/596707.html

[Yoda-esque]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-england-2012/content/current/story/596707.html

Denial from the top to the very bottom

[The Realist]

Pathetic state of affairs - they all have their head so far up their own rear-ends that can't see the reality. The Cricinfo article says it all: If Gambhir doesn't score a century in Nagpur, it will be three years without a Test hundred. It is hard to imagine any other specialist batsman keeping his place in a proper Test side with those numbers. Since that Cape Town Test, Gambhir has played 15 Tests, seven away and eight in India, and has averaged 27.77 with five half-centuries. As a comparison, in the last 15 Tests before he was dropped never to be picked again, Wasim Jaffer averaged 36.81, scored three centuries - one of them in Cape Town, another a double in Kolkata - and had five half-centuries besides. Jaffer was 30 then, a year younger than Gambhir is now.

[punjabi_khota]

3 years without century sounds bad, but please remember it is 16 tests. A normal year would be 10ish tests, so India has played VERY few tests in these 3 years.

[BERGKAMP]

i think nagpur will be the final time we see mr poker.

[rkt.india]

3 years without century sounds bad' date=' but please remember it is 16 tests. A normal year would be 10ish tests, so India has played VERY few tests in these 3 years.[/quote'] its not about just 100 but he is averaging 27 in last 15 tests.

[The Outsider]

3 years without century sounds bad' date=' but please remember it is 16 tests. A normal year would be 10ish tests, so India has played VERY few tests in these 3 years.[/quote'] Cape Town was 2 years back, not 3 - 16 tests in 2 years is pretty okay. You are confusing the fact that he hasn't scored a century for 3 years with his average or productivity since the Cape Town test. As for Gambhir, I wouldn't drop him. He has been getting starts and the 40s and 50s. Sehwag and Gambhir remain India's best chance of winning a test when they can shield the walking wickets at 4 and 6, and rookies at 3 and 5.

[Trichromatic]

3 years without century sounds bad' date=' but please remember it is 16 tests. A normal year would be 10ish tests, so India has played VERY few tests in these 3 years.[/quote'] 16 tests? He has played 25 tests without a century. He has missed few tests also. 30 tests in almost 3 years isn't that less.

[Trichromatic]

Cape Town was 2 years back, not 3 - 16 tests in 2 years is pretty okay. You are confusing the fact that he hasn't scored a century for 3 years with his average or productivity since the Cape Town test. As for Gambhir, I wouldn't drop him. He has been getting starts and the 40s and 50s. Sehwag and Gambhir remain India's best chance of winning a test when they can shield the walking wickets at 4 and 6, and rookies at 3 and 5.

He has been getting starts in almost all series (11 half-centuries in 45 innings). He averages below 30 (in last 24-25 tests) which is way too low of an opener who is at his peak of his career. Easily the worst batsman for India in last 3 years (close contest from MSD. It's surprising that he has managed to hold his position without performing even at domestic level. Even with his 100 runs in last test, he screwed team by gifting two main wickets to England. [table=head]Player Span Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 0 4s 6s CA Pujara 2010-2012 8 14 2 735 206* 61.25 1499 49.03 3 1 0 85 1 SR Tendulkar 2010-2012 30 52 3 2552 214 52.08 4798 53.18 7 12 0 317 13 R Dravid 2010-2012 26 47 5 2004 191 47.71 4564 43.90 8 5 0 231 3 VVS Laxman 2010-2012 25 45 7 1788 176* 47.05 3553 50.32 3 13 2 199 1 V Sehwag 2010-2012 28 51 2 2214 173 45.18 2510 88.20 6 12 5 331 15 R Ashwin 2011-2012 11 17 4 567 103 43.61 858 66.08 1 3 1 72 5 V Kohli 2011-2012 13 24 2 788 116 35.81 1652 47.69 2 5 2 93 4 MS Dhoni 2010-2012 32 52 5 1608 144 34.21 2892 55.60 2 11 5 162 28 G Gambhir 2010-2012 25 45 2 1292 93 30.04 2727 47.37 0 11 4 170 1 SK Raina 2010-2012 17 29 2 768 120 28.44 1441 53.29 1 7 6 100 4 Yuvraj Singh 2010-2012 8 12 0 318 74 26.50 573 55.49 0 3 1 42 6 M Vijay 2010-2011 10 17 0 448 139 26.35 1001 44.75 1 1 1 51 2 A Mishra 2010-2011 6 10 0 255 84 25.50 448 56.91 0 1 2 34 1 Harbhajan Singh 2010-2012 19 29 2 667 115 24.70 975 68.41 2 2 4 69 21[/table] Worst part is that he thinks his problem is only that he doesn't score centuries, otherwise he is averaging 50 with Sehwag which is good enough. :facepalm:

[The Outsider]

^ Not defending Gambhir, but to determine current form 1-2 years should be the criteria with greater weight to recent performances ie. if two players have similar performances it makes more sense to give a few more chances to someone who is improving over the last 5-7 innings rather than going down.

[SLICKR392]

i think nagpur will be the final time we see mr poker.

Why? If he is dropped then everyone excluding Ashwin should be dropped aswell.

[kubrickian]

Ashwin has been the second best batsman among the new players, averaging 43+ with 1 century and 3 fifties. Much better than Kohli, Yuvraj and Raina. Who would have thought that ?